CEDEJ Environment and Social Policies Seminar Series
« Socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on migrants in MENA region ( in the Middle East and North Africa) «
Date: 19 of October 2021, 4 pm
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While the outbreak of COVID-19 has affected entire communities, migrants and displaced populations, who often exhibit high levels of pre-existing vulnerabilities and face significant structural barriers are also severely affected. A growing body of evidence outlines the ways that the socio-economic outcomes of mobile and displaced populations are negatively affected by the pandemic, including experiencing xenophobic attacks due to perceived links between migration and disease transmission, being unable to access health services or national social protection, being unable to send or receive remittances; being stranded in host country and experiencing increased violence as a result of lockdowns and restrictions on movement.
Against this backdrop, the International Organisation for Migration’s Regional Office in Cairo developed a tool aiming to systematically study how and to what extent COVID-19 affects the socio-economic outcomes of migrants and displaced populations throughout the region. Building on the United Nations’ framework for the socio-economic assessment of COVID-19, the regional office examined the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on six key pillars, namely (1) Health services and systems during the crisis; (2) Access to social protection and basic services; (3) Economic response and recovery; (4) Macroeconomic response and multilateral collaboration; (5) Social cohesion and community resilience; and (6) Mobility.
The presentation will focus mainly on migrants and displaced persons living in Libya and Sudan. That being said, the cases Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt may also be touched upon.
Joris Jourdain works as research analyst with the International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) Regional Office in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). His role implies conducting assessments on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on migrants and displaced persons throughout the MENA region. Before this, Joris was working as a research consultant for several United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations on various topics such as cash and market-based programming and social protection, with a focus on mobile and displaced populations. He holds a master’s degree in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from Oxford University.
Raffaele Bertini is a PhD Economist with more than seven years of experience working with United Nations’ agencies such as the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) of the United Nations. His main research interests are rural development, agricultural and structural transformation, social protection, climate change as well as internal displacement and international migration. Raffaele recently published a paper on land distribution in World Development as well other papers on social protection and poverty in rural areas, IDPs and agriculture and other relevant rural development issues in the MENA region.
